The Perfect Imperfection- Another Woodworking Project

The Perfect Imperfection- Another Woodworking Project

The Perfect Imperfection- Another Woodworking Project

I made a round dining table out of reclaimed Douglas Fir from my friend’s house. The woods are from exterior trimming with many rotten parts, nails and black paint over it. I invested in a thickness planer Dewalt DW734 to make wood preparation a little easier. It worked, but not as smoothly as I originally thought, I think I might just need more practice.  

The table is 36” round which is the biggest I can possibly get from the available size and it’s good for my usage. Of course, lots of glue has been applied. I ran out all the wood for the tabe top and bought additional 1×3 Fir and glued them into 2×3 as a 2×4 might look too bulky. It looks more balanced with a 1 ¼” thick top and 2×3 legs, in my opinion. 

The project went very smoothly until I made the first mistake, that is the leg part. When I glued two 1×3 together I left a cross notch which is just a width of 1×3, however, when gluing job done and I needed to straighten the 2×3 edge by a table saw, then I made 2×3 slimmer, of course the notches are widened by about 3/16”. All leg parts are in 80°, that imprecise notches did affect the accuracy, but I managed okay.  

After sanding, I need to apply the finish. I did some research and want to make this process different from what I did previously. I narrowed down to two products: Rubio Monocoat and Odie’s Oil. They are natural and easy to apply, and believe it or not, it is not easy to source Rubio Monocoat here in the West Coast. I ended up using Odie’s Oil from Lee Valley, the applying process was pleasing, the odies smells good.    

The perfect imperfection is to make mistakes, and learn the lessons from it, and make the next one better.

不完美的完美-暑假木工记

不完美的完美-暑假木工记

不完美的完美-暑假木工记

车库里存放着一些之前工程的边角料,包括做橱柜多余的柜门和几块玻璃隔板。看着 Pintrest 上漂亮的木工作品贴图,不禁心痒痒的,盘算着跟儿子一起摸索,用这些余料做 2 个小桌子,或许可以卖掉,再用赚的钱捐给儿子做义工的组织,岂不一举几得!越想心里越美,小时候连电锯噪音都害怕的儿子也是跃跃欲试,心动不如行动,不成想这一动就是几个星期 ……

玻璃源自壁柜( Wall Cabinet)的 Shelf,尺寸只有 34 ½” X 10 ⅞”,加上一圈边框的尺寸也不会很大,姑且称之为公寓之咖啡小桌吧。下面主要用图片解释这两个小桌的制作过程吧。

 

小咖啡桌一

为了标注角度与尺寸,儿子 “被迫” 自学了 Trigonometry (三角函数),虽然他嘟囔这是 10 年级的课程 😏。这个咖啡桌是由左右两部分独立组成的,安装后的稳定性没有任何问题,但两个单独的部分没有做到 Freestanding,试想如果设计到它的重心刚好可以自由站立,计算出材料的厚度与拼接角度,难度真不亚于 Pascal (Grade 9)Part C 的问题呢。

小咖啡桌二

做第二张桌子的时候,有点急于收工,毕竟只能凑两个人的时间每天做一些,车库也长时间乱糟糟的。原设计的感觉是 2×4 实木,我们橱柜门板实测的厚度只有 ⅞” 和 ¾”,担心材料不够,也怕麻烦,就没有再 Glue 成 1 ½” 的厚度。因为这个设计没有 Lateral Support (横向支撑),但我们又减小了尺寸,开始时还有些担心,还好后来支撑效果还可以。

细木工是讲究 Wood Joints (木头的连接),我们采用的是 Basic Butt with Dowel Pins,Reinforced Mitered Butt 和 Half-Lap,使用 Glue,不用一颗螺钉。因为没有使用 Dowelling Jig (钻孔模具),着实让我们感受到了 Drilling 不精确带来的麻烦。还有,在做第二张桌子 Mitered Reinforcing 的时候,三个角都使用了坚硬的 Oak (橡木),一个角随手使用了较软的 Cedar (杉木),结果在安装时由于孔位置不够精确,导致使用软木加强的那个角开裂。做个小木桌真是类似一个小工程,自始至终得有一丝不苟的态度,否则还真会出问题。 

在制作过程中要向儿子学习的地方是一丝不苟地使用 PPE (个人防护装备),一进入工作间首先戴好安全眼镜,耳塞,打磨时戴好 N95 口罩,我是教会了徒弟,自己有时却会偷懒😜。整个制作过程虽然问题不断,最终产品也不算很完美,但我们挑战了自己,坚持完成了项目,希望下一个会做得更好,这也算是不完美的完美吧。